The Precious Gift of Baby Talk

John Piper’s contribution to this month’s issue of Tabletalk is on the subject of language. “Human language is precious,” he says. “It sets us off from the animals. It makes our most sophisticated scientific discoveries and our deepest emotions sharable. Above all, God chose to reveal Himself to us through human language in the Bible. In the fullness of time, He spoke to us by His Son (Heb. 1:1–2), and that Son spoke human language. In like manner, He sent His Spirit to lead His apostles into all truth so that they could tell the story of the Son in human language. Without this story in human language, we would not know the Son.”

While language is a precious gift of God, it is not perfect. Piper says that it is “imperfect for capturing the fullness of God.” He explains that in “1 Corinthians 13, there are four comparisons between this present time and the age to come after Christ returns.” You can learn about those comparisons and why they matter by reading “The Precious Gift of Baby Talk.”